Soulmates
by Professor-Piggy
Summary: It's difficult for Yui to really express how she feels about Azusa, even if she doesn't quite realise that yet. After all, when cake, hugs, and spontaneous declarations of love are your default, there's only so much escalation can do. Fortunately for Yui, she knows just the person to turn to for advice when she needs it most.


"You think she's ignoring you? I dunno, she seems to be treating you just the same to me. 'Practice more, Yui-senpai. What? Tea, cake? No, there's no way I could possibly eat a fifth piece of cake! What's that? You'll feed it to me? Well, I suppose if _that's_ the case - '"

"Ri-chan, _focus! _Azu-nyan couldn't eat five pieces of cake! More than three pieces and she starts to feel sick, and then I have to take care of her because I made her eat too much cake, and then she gets tired and grumpy and cute because I'm taking care of her! I always have to finish her fourth piece!'

"Sorry, sorry – I guess I shouldn't dare call myself President if I'm not keeping track of how much cake we need properly. But hey, even if she only lets you feed her three pieces of cake that's still three pieces more than she'd let you feed her if she was ignoring you, right? So what's the problem?"

Yui let out a soft hum and tilted her head back into her friend's lap as she tried to think of how to explain, the gentle tapping of the drumsticks on her shoulders helping her to relax after a long night spent fretting over Azu-nyan. Ri-chan was right. It wasn't exactly that Azu-nyan was ignoring her, it was just that…

"She's acting like nothing's changed!"

"Ah, I see. That _is _a serious probl – wait, what? Is that supposed to be a bad thing?"

"It's bad! It's really, really bad! No matter what I do, she just acts the same. You have to help me!"

"Yeah, that's what you said on the phone before I dragged myself out of bed and trudged all the way through the snow to get here."

"It's midsummer, Ri-chan. And we were both in class."

"Whatever. The important thing is that for me to help, I gotta know what the problem is – so unless you finally get around to telling me why it is that Azusa _should _be treating you differently, there's nothing I can do for you."

"Ri-chan! You mean you haven't noticed? I really thought you were more observant than that. I'm disappointed!"

"Hirasawa-san, I'll let you off this time 'cause I've already seen you crying once today and frankly it's like watching a puppy get kicked. But you should really be more careful what you say to your glorious leader when she's holding pointy things and you've got her back to her."

"Sorry, sorry. Maybe you were just too busy observing Mio-chan?"

"Well, there's a lot of interesting things about Mio to observe. But this isn't really getting us any closer to solving your problem. What obvious thing is it I've missed?"

Ri-chan really hadn't noticed. That was troubling – she had been doing her absolute best, and she thought they must all have known. Still, Ri-chan had always been a little slow.

"Well, I've been hugging her a lot lately. As often as I can. She smells good, and her hair tickles. She's also really warm. It's like hugging a kitten, but bigger and cuter. Kind of like if -"

"Yui…"

"Right, right. I've been hugging her every time I see her, and I've been feeding her, and petting her, and walking with her -"

"Did you get her a collar, too?"

"No. Should I?"

"Probably not."

"Okay. Anyway. I've been doing all that, and telling her I love her, and holding her hand, and she's acting like nothing's changed!"

"…Yui, you do all that stuff all the time. Nothing _has _changed."

"But it has! I've been trying to tell her how I feel about her, like we talked about, and she's just been ignoring me! What if she doesn't like me, Ri-chan? What if I made her mad?"

"…Okay. You're an idiot. That's okay. We'll get there. So, tell me: were you doing any of these things _before _you decided to confess to Azusa? Is it possible that you hugged her and told her you loved her a whole lot then, too?"

"Of course I did! Azu-nyan's way too adorable not to hug! But I've been hugging her even more! At least once more, every time I see her. And for longer! At least five seconds longer! And I've been telling her more!"

Ri-chan sighed. It was a heavy sound, and it made Yui tired just to hear it. She felt bad, for a moment – she had known her problem was serious, but she hadn't expected just hearing about it to burn through Ri-chan's endless supply of energy. Maybe, she couldn't help but think, the problem really was that Azu-nyan didn't like her anymore.

"…Yui. You know that not everybody counts hugs, right? Because that's…not something most people do. I'm pretty sure that's just you. And I can't really picture Azusa counting how many times you say you love her. I've heard you do it a dozen times in ten minutes."

"What!? But… how do they know how many times they've been hugged!?"

"…I'm going to regret asking this, but do you actually know how many times you've been hugged?"

"Of course, Ri-chan! Hugs are presents, and each one is special! You never know which one might be the last you get from somebody, and it's important to remember them just in case! You've hugged me six hundred and eighty seven times – more often than anybody except Ui-chan and Azu-nyan!"

"…Back to Azusa. The problem isn't that she doesn't like you – I mean, I dunno if she does or doesn't, so don't get your hopes up, but that's not why she's not paying attention to all your blatant signals. It's just that she hasn't noticed a difference."

"But…but this is all I know how to do. I'm not good at many things, but I'm good at hugging. And I'm good at telling Azu-nyan how special she is. If that's not good enough, what else can I do?"

"Well, you've got two options. You could try something small and easy – march up to her, look her in the eye, ask her out, try not to hug her and faun over her and make her think it's just you being you…_or_ you can do something big and stupid."

"…Is big and stupid more fun?"

"Always."

"…Will you help me?"

"Always to that, too. Now, here's what I'm thinking…."


End file.
